StoneMarrow Theatre
STORMSHELTER
Presented by Workman Arts’s
Rendezvous With Madness Festival
FB/StoneMarrowTheatre • IG/stonemarrow
Media Contact: Samantha Jeffery
1 stonemarrowtheatre@gmail.com
Edmonton, Alberta’s StoneMarrow Theatre in association with Workman
Arts’ Rendezvous With Madness Festival presents
the World Premiere of
Stormshelter
Stormshelter Details
Press Contact:
For further media information and interviews please contact Samantha Jeffery
at 780-966-8312 or stonemarrowtheatre@gmail.com
facebook.com/stonemarrowtheatre
A mother living with bipolar affective disorder is working through trauma, illness and
healing in a psychiatric hospital. Alberta is recovering with her psychiatrist’s help, and in the
process, trying to learn how to be a parent with illness for her children. Through the course of a
manic episode, Alberta is struck by visions and insights into her past and future. Can her
altered state be the very thing that guides her back to her children? Chronicling her stay at the
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Stormshelter shines a light on the process of coming
to terms with one’s own mental health.
Stormshelter presents a unique opportunity to invite people who may not have first-
hand knowledge of mental illness into an unfamiliar space where mental health is normalized
and dealt with openly rather than being a taboo subject. At the same time, for those with first-
hand knowledge, the show presents a heightened and magical space where their experiences
are represented with compassion, understanding, and hope.
Brad Necyk (playwright) is a multimedia artist in Canada whose practice engages with issues
of medicine, mental health, and precarious populations and subjects. His works include
drawings and paintings, still and motion film, sculpture, 3D imaging and printing, virtual reality,
and performance. He recently finished a residency with AHS Transplant Services in 2015-16,
works as an artist/researcher in a project on Head and Neck Cancer, and is completing an arts-
based, research-creation Ph.D. in Psychiatry. Currently, he is a visiting artist/researcher at the
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto and had a studio residency at Workman Arts,
Toronto. His current work focuses on patient experience, auto-ethnography, psychiatry,
pharmaceutics, and biopolitics.
Perry Gratton (director) is an Edmonton born-and-raised (except for when he left for those
few times) actor and director. A graduate of the University of Alberta BFA Acting Program,
selected acting credits include shows at NextFest and the Edmonton International Fringe
Festival, Freewill Shakespeare Company (Twelfth Night/Othello), as well as Much Ado About
Nothing and Midsummer Night's Dream with Thou Art Here!, and Twelfth Night with Malachite
Theatre. His directing credits include the Sterling Award nominated Fringe shows A Beautiful
View and Letters to Laura, as well as Inside Out (Nextfest/Fringe), and The Premonition of
Jesse and Joan (Nextfest). He is beyond stoked to be premiering this fantastic new show on
Michael Peng (actor) is a freelance performer, director and producer based in Edmonton. He
holds an MFA in Directing from the University of Alberta and is Co-Artistic Director of wishbone
theatre, the acclaimed independent company he founded in 2009. In Alberta, he has worked
with Citadel Theatre, Theatre Calgary, Workshop West Theatre, Sage Theatre, Theatre YES,
Northern Light Theatre, Studio Theatre and Fire Exit Theatre, along with many of the leading
independent companies in Edmonton. Michael, who has several Elizabeth Sterling Haynes
Award nominations, has toured twice internationally and worked in BC, Yukon Territory, and
Ontario - most recently with MT Space, Lost&Found theatre, Gwaandak Theatre and Inter
Arts Matrix. He’s also trained with Soulpepper, Ghost River Theatre and at the National Voice
Intensive, among others. Michael has worked in collective creation, new play development and
narrative based plays for over 25 years. Most recently with wishbone he helped create the text
and mise en scene for Or The Whale (a new stage adaptation of Moby Dick) and for Rig Pig
Fantasia, both written and directed by Chris Bullough.
Louise Casemore (dramaturge) is a creator, director, and Sterling Award winning writer/
performer originally from Edmonton. She is the Artistic Associate for Calgary’s Ghost River
Theatre, Artistic Director of Defiance Theatre, and recipient of the 2017 Enbridge/ATP
Playwright’s Award. Through Defiance and as a freelance artist, Louise has been involved in
almost 20 world premieres and counting, including her one woman
shows OCD, Functional (Found Fest, Ignite Festival), GEMINI (touring 2018/19) and the
upcoming cabaret exorcism that is Undressed. Additional credits include The Bereft
Project with Charles Netto and Theatre Junction’s TJLabs, teaching playwriting and
performance creation with the Writer’s Guild of Alberta, Alberta Playwright’s Network, and ATP
Raucous Caucus, and serving as a proud member of Workshop West Playwrights’ Theatre
Board of Directors. Louise is a devoted to finding honesty and intimacy wherever she can, and
all things strange and unusual.
This project is supported by the Edmonton Arts Council and the City of Edmonton.
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring
the arts to Canadians throughout the country.
Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier, le Conseil a investi 153 millions de
dollars pour mettre de l’art dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays.
Media
Broadway World, October 2, 2018
https://www.broadwayworld.com/toronto/article/STORMSHELTER-Comes-to-The-
Rendezvous-With-Madness-Festival-20181002
She Does The City, October 1, 2018 - Top Pick of the Festival
http://www.shedoesthecity.com/twelve-days-compelling-films-performances-visual-art-
twenty-sixth-annual-rendezvous-madness-festival
The Star, October 3, 2018
https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/stage/2018/10/03/rendezvous-with-madness-
expands-to-include-live-performance.html
Listings
blogTO, September 27, 2018
https://www.blogto.com/events/stormshelter-at-rendezvous-with-madness-festival-toronto/
City of Toronto Events Calendar, September 27, 2018
https://www.toronto.ca/explore-enjoy/festivals-events/festivals-events-calendar/?
start=2018-09-27T06%3A00%3A00.000Z&end=2019-09-28T05%3A59%3A59.999Z&search=stor
mshelter&categories=&themes=&free=false&accessible=false&ongoing=false&view=fecList&id=&
oindex=
Neighbourhood Arts Network, September 27, 2018
https://neighbourhoodartsnetwork.org/toronto-arts-online/attend-an-event/events/stormshelter-at-
the-rendezvous-with-madness-festiv
NOW Magazine Toronto, September 30, 2018
https://nowtoronto.com/events/Stormshelter
Broadway World Toronto, October 1, 2018
https://www.broadwayworld.com/toronto/regional/Stormshelter-at-the-Rendezvous-With-Madness-
Festival-268071
toronto.com Events Calendar, October 5, 2018
https://www.toronto.com/events/8920375-764717-stormshelter-at-the-rendezvous-with-madness-
festival/
Media Contact: Samantha Jeffery
7 stonemarrowtheatre@gmail.com